


The Duelling Club

by Aviss



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22878499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviss/pseuds/Aviss
Summary: Hatake Kakashi was the latest teacher to join the staff in the school and the rumours about him were plenty. The entire hall had erupted into chaos when it had been announced he was joining the school as Transfigurations professor, though that had been nothing compared to the announcement that he was joining the Duelling Club.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 14
Kudos: 208
Collections: KakaIru 2019 Mini Bingo!





	The Duelling Club

**Author's Note:**

> I'm cutting it very close, but here it's for my Fantasy square on the mini bingo.

"Hurry, we're going to miss the beginning!" Naruto hollered at his friends, running full-tilt down the corridors of the Konoha School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, his robe trailing behind him and his wand clutched in his hand. 

He turned his head and saw Sakura and Sasuke running after him, long-suffering expressions on their faces but they were keeping pace. "We have plenty of time, Naruto!" Sakura said. "The club doesn't start for another fifteen minutes."

"I know!" He skidded to a halt at the door of the club, where another group of students were already waiting to be let in. "But today Professor Kakashi will join the demonstration." And nobody wanted to miss it. "I want a place in the front row!"

Hatake Kakashi was the latest teacher to join the staff in the school and the rumours about him were plenty. He was a mysterious character; Transfigurations Master and Animagus by the time most students were still in their fifth year, he had fallen through the cracks the moment he had stepped away from school. He had no family left, though he descended from one of the oldest and most influential pureblood lines. Rumours were he had joined Orochimaru and his merry band of freaks, or that he was an undercover Auror, or an Unspeakable. Until this year when he had been sitting between Professor Iruka, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Headmaster Tsunade at the beginning of term's feast as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

The entire hall had erupted into chaos when it had been announced he was joining the school as Transfigurations professor, though that had been nothing compared to the announcement that he was joining the Duelling Club. 

That explained the number of students already waiting to be let in the room. Naruto could see Lee and Kiba and Hinata all approaching, and some of the older students were already waiting by the doors. 

"See? I told you we had to rush," he said when Sasuke joined them, unruffled and calm as if he hadn't been running as well. 

The doors opened at the hour on the dot, everyone pushing and running to get a place in the first row. Naruto almost tripped with his own feet in his haste, but he managed to grab a great place, spreading himself to make sure both Sakura and Sasuke had a place by his side. 

The teachers were already standing on the raised platform, chatting quietly while the students filed in. Apart from the day of the feast, when Naruto had been too busy stuffing his face to pay much attention, he hadn't seen them together and there was something about the way they were standing that made him pay attention now. Kakashi was taller than Iruka, but not by much, though his ridiculous white hair made it look like he was. He was wearing a mask that covered most of his face and had a long scar over one eye, which was a different colour than the other. They were standing very close and facing each other, so close it looked like Kakashi had no sense of personal space but Iruka, instead of looking awkward like he usually did when people got too close, was just leaning slightly towards him, shortening the distance even more. Naruto was near enough to hear their voices, and it felt like they were arguing about something.

"You agreed, Iruka," Kakashi said, his tone firm.

" _I know,_ but it's the first lesson and we have second years among the group."

"It's never too early to learn, you know that, and the war is coming whether they have learned or not." Naruto felt a shiver at the certainty in Kakashi's voice, until then all he'd heard about war had been rumours but it made more sense that he was there.

Iruka pursed his lips in the way he knew meant he was irritated but didn't want to show it. "Not within these walls, they're safe for as long as they're here."

"He can't live in the school forever, Iruka," Kakashi said, his voice soft enough he had to strain to hear it. They were talking about someone he probably knew."He's in this group, isn't he? That was the condition for me to come, that I got to teach _him_ how to defend himself."

That prickled Naruto's interest, who could they be talking about? He looked around with narrowed eyes; one of the students was important enough that Kakashi had left whatever he was going before to come to teach him. His eyes landed on Sasuke, he was sure it was going to be him. 

It was always Sasuke.

He returned his attention to the teachers to see if he learned something else, but they had finished their conversation and were already facing the group, a couple of feet of distance between the two of them.

"Is everyone in?" Iruka asked, pointing his wand at a list by the door with a flourish. The list of names illuminated, Iruka nodded, pleased, and closed the main door with another flick of his wand. "Welcome to this year's first class of the Duelling Club." There was a chorus of voices greeting Iruka. "For all second years who are new here, we're going to teach you how to duel with magic. This is an important skill to have for those who want to join the Aurors or Unspeakables," Kakashi gave him a pointed look. "Or in case of another war."

There was a ripple of unease among the students. The last war had not touched them, though many had lost their parents to it, like Naruto who had been barely a babe or Sasuke who had lost most of his family. There were rumours of some factions preparing for another all-out war, and there had already been some skirmishes Naruto had heard about though the papers reported them as accidents. 

Naruto knew better, though; he'd been practically raised in the school with other war orphans and they knew something was happening. They had also heard about a prophecy, something pointing at one of the victims of the last war somehow being necessary to win this one.

Sasuke again, he was sure.

"There are, generally accepted, two kinds of duelling." Iruka continued once the murmurs had calmed down and everyone was fixed on him again. "The one we usually teach here, with verbal spells and counterspell, is the one accepted officially for tournaments. Then there is combat to kill your enemy."

"We're going to show you both kinds," Kakashi took over and Iruka shot him a warning look. "That's what I'm here for today," he finished undeterred.

Again, the voices around the room rippled, this time with excitement.

"Yes, as you can all see we have Kakashi joining the club. He's a Master Duellist and has kindly offered his time for this." Naruto was practically vibrating on the spot with excitement. They were going to see real duelling.

"Can you believe it," he said to Sakura, who was also staring wide-eyed at their teachers.

"Shh, I want to hear them!"

The teachers pressed their backs together and then walked ten steps each, turned around and bowed deeply to each other, their wands held in front of their faces. Naruto was looking at Iruka and could see a high flush on his face, his eyes narrowed in concentration and a slight curl of his lips.

"Expelliarmus," Iruka said, loud and clear in the room, his hand moved fast, a quick flick.

"Protego," Kakashi countered, the coloured blast hitting his shield harmlessly. "Stupefy," he followed, faster than Naruto had seen anyone move his wand before.

Iruka didn't block, just moved aside and let the charm pass him harmlessly. "Confrigo!"

"Come on Iruka, you're not even trying," Kakashi said, also not blocking, his mouth ticking up on a lazy grin. "Reducto!"

"Impedimenta!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"You're repeating yourself Kakashi, I thought you knew more than a thousand spells," Iruka taunted with a smirk that Naruto had never seen before. He had not known he could speak like that either, there was a tension in the room thick enough that he could practically taste it in the back of his throat. "Titillando!"

"What are you, seven?" Kakashi laughed as if the curse had touched him, though they had seen him side-step it. "You'll like this one then. Rictusempra! Relashio! Expelliarmus!" He said in quick succession, his hand a blur and Iruka's wand flew from his hand and into Kakashi's

He didn't appear upset, though. He looked like he had let him do that and they both knew it.

Kakashi picked up the wand as it flew towards him and then they both bowed again to each other.

"This is the kind of duelling you'll learn here," Iruka said when everyone had stopped talking and were back to staring at them. Naruto couldn't wait, he wanted to be able to move like them, to flick spells as easy as breathing. "And for now you don't need another one, unless you are capable of enunciating spells clearly and matching the proper wand movement there is no hope for you to duel. But I did promise I'd show you the other kind." He turned to Kakashi then who was looking at him intently, his eye appeared darker than before, and it darkened further when Iruka added. "And I _always_ keep my promises." As if there was a different meaning to it.

Kakashi took a breath deep enough Naruto saw how his chest expanded under his billowing robes, a high flush on his cheeks though the previous bout of duelling hadn't looked so exhausting. It was difficult to tell with the mask but Naruto thought he could see a smile on his lips.

"But first, all of you, take two steps back."

All the students moved as one, that was the kind of commanding voice and presence Kakashi had. The teachers jumped down from the platform and raised their wands at the same time, their lips moving in unison though Naruto couldn't hear what they were saying. A dome rose from the point they were both aiming their wands at, shimmering for a moment as it fell, encasing the platform and the teachers within. They jumped onto the platform again and enlarged it, making it squarer than before.

Kakashi looked at them, straight into Naruto's eyes, almost as if it was him he really wanted to teach. "Real life duelling doesn't occur on a raised platform, your enemies won't allow you the time to lift protective barriers in case of spells going awry and hitting bystanders, something that happens more than it should."

"That's the reason we have erected the dome," Iruka explained.

"If at any point you see the dome failing, raise red sparks with your wand and we'll stop," Kakashi added and Iruka looked at him approvingly.

Again they faced each other and bowed, then Naruto's jaw was hitting the floor, the same as everyone else's.

He had never seen anything like that in his life, had never even suspected that was something that could happen outside of movies. And if it was something real, he had not imagined Professor Iruka, loud and friendly and kind-hearted enough to always have chocolate on him for his students, to be the one to do it. This was Auror level duelling, and Iruka was a great teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it was said he taught because he couldn't cut it as an Auror.

The man trading blows with Kakashi would have made one hell of an Auror.

They were circling each other on the raised platform, no trace of their previous smiles, just incredible focus while around them the dome exploded in different colours. Their wands were blurs in their hands, sending and absorbing curses and spells in the span of a heartbeat, even when Naruto's was galloping in his chest. They didn't speak, and Naruto knew, he just knew, that the spells they were using were dangerous. They might not be using unforgivables, something to even a Headmistress as lax as Tsunade wouldn't stand for within their walls, but those were real-world spells, not the fall flat on your face kind, these looked like being incinerated on the spot kind.

An arc of crackling lightning rushed from Kakashi's wand and Iruka made a complicated gesture with his and collected it at the tip, the sparks flying dangerously around him and making him look almost ethereal. A harsh word and a quick flick sent it rebounding against the top of the dome, where it dispersed in a rain of sparks while he sidestepped a second curse, one violent purple, which had been hiding right behind the lighting. 

"Made you speak out loud," Kakashi said, savage satisfaction in his voice.

Iruka narrowed his eyes and three different colours left his wand, Kakashi stumbled slightly before blocking it, a gasp going around the watchers, the first breath they had probably taken since the duel began. " _Made you trip_."

Now they were both smiling again, but it was nothing like the teasing from before, Iruka had his teeth bared in a grin that made him look dangerous, so unlike the kind teacher they knew.

Naruto wanted to learn how to fight like this.

"Wow," Sasuke said, his voice as awestruck as Naruto felt. He wanted to see what expression was on his face, but it would mean missing even one second of this fight and Naruto wasn't going to do that. 

He'd imagine the most stupid one it was probably the right one, anyway. It was doubtlessly also on his face.

"I'm sure I can get you on your knees," Kakashi said, sending a flurry of curses that Iruka blocked with a laugh. He countered them with a snake of fire that almost singed the top of Kakashi's hair.

" _Not in a duel_."

"Wanna bet?"

"You're on."

"How can they still flirt battling at this level?" Sakura asked, her voice faint.

Naruto was about to ask what she meant when dome shivered as the next curse, a bright red one, rebounded against the top and someone sent red sparks from their wand. A collective groan came from the rest of the students gathered there, though how their teachers had the spatial awareness to see it and freeze at the same time was something Naruto didn't know. But they did, letting their last spells crash against the dome and shatter it harmlessly around them. 

This time they were both breathing heavily, though they had not been running around that much and they couldn't have been fighting for more than five minutes. It must have been more exhausting than Naruto believed, they were both red-faced while they caught up their breath.

"Now, before any of you can get to this level," Iruka said, still a bit breathless. "We'll start with the basics. Form in pairs."

Naruto ended up paired with Sasuke, because of course he did, it was just his luck. "Salute," Iruka said, his voice back to normal as he walked among the paired up students. "Bow."

"You're going to start with simple spells," Kakashi said from close, right next to Naruto. "The ones with their back to the platform will cast expelliarmus, the other ones will cast protego."

That's what they did the rest of the club, a letdown after the excitement of what they had watched, but by the end, Naruto was able to cast a functioning protego, Kakashi had been close to him and Sasuke the entire lesson and Naruto wasn't going to complain, he got to benefit from it. 

The club dissolved when it was time for dinner and even before Iruka had said the last word, hungry students eager to get to the Great Hall for food or gossip or both. Naruto turned to get one last look at the teachers, saw they were getting the platform back to normal and talking animatedly and was suddenly filled with the need to know more. 

"Sakura, cast a disguising spell on us, one so we don't draw attention to us," he said, stopping dead on his tracks and grabbing his friends. 

"What do you want to do?" Sakura asked with a suspicious look, but she didn't say no. She was the best at delicate spells, she probably had a good one. 

"They were talking about the war before, don't you want to know who he prophecy is about?" He looked at Sasuke and saw the same curiosity in his eyes. 

He nodded and Sakura took out her wand and cast a disillusionment charm on them followed by a muffliato on their feet and they grabbed each other's hands and went back to the room, the world kind of distant around them, as if they were underwater.

"They are all so young, Iruka," Kakashi was saying while he directed his wand around the room, transfiguring things back so the Duelling Club room became their Defense classroom again. He was barely looking at what he was doing and had not cast a spell out loud, his mastery making it look easy when Naruto knew it was everything but. He had tried. "Have we ever been this young?"

"You know you haven't, Kakashi," Iruka said with a sad look at him. He directed some books to the right place, the tomes whizzing past Naruto's head close enough he smelled the ozone of spells and felt the air moving his hair. Sakura's hand gripped his wrist and pulled at it until they were all three pressed against the wall, the safest place to be with things moving around so much. Maybe this hadn't been his best idea. "And I was around their age when I found a wounded and filthy mutt on the streets."

"Oi!" Kakashi protested, but the look in his eye didn't look so glum anymore. "It wasn't just any mutt."

"No. _It wasn't_." They stared at each other intently, Naruto could feel some of the same tension that had been in the room while they duelled, though this time it wasn't so thick. "I'm just glad he let me help."

"So am I." Kakashi flicked his wand again and the door closed. He looked around and Naruto's heart tripped and tried to crawl up his throat when his eyes landed on them before they moved past, ignoring their presence the way the spell was supposed to make him to. 

"What did you make of him after today's lesson?" Iruka asked, finishing with the last touches of the room. It looked again like it had for every lesson since Naturo had been in the school. 

"He has too much power and too little restraint, a very volatile combination. You did the right thing calling me for help." He felt Sasuke startle by his side. Iruka had been the one to call Kakashi and convince him to come to teach? He had that much pull? "We can keep him safe, even from himself."

"Good, I am very fond of the brat," Iruka said, his voice full of affection. "But he's a bit of a dumbass, isn't he?" Naturo did a double take, he'd never heard Iruka speaking like that, especially about a student.

Kakashi laughed loudly, it was odd to see someone as feared and legendary as him, and as terrifyingly strong as he had been during the demonstration, laughing in such a carefree manner. "Isn't everyone at that age?"

"Oh yes, I pulled many stunts as well, none as dumb as this one, though." Naruto felt a ripple of unease. They weren't talking about them, were they? "I had hoped his friends were a bit smarter than him, though, and didn't believe a simple disillusionment charm would be enough to _eavesdrop on their teachers_." Naruto's blood froze in his veins, Sakura stiffened next to him and Sasuke muttered _'fuck'_ and then cringed because that meant more detention for cursing. Iruka turned and stared directly at them with his best disappointed expression and flicked his wand once, the charms covering them melting against their skin, colours and sounds reasserting themselves around them "Right, Naruto?"

Kakashi was still laughing so hard tears were now streaming down his face. Naruto swallowed drily. "I don't know if I should be impressed that you thought to try that, or offended that you thought it would work."

"Impressed, definitely impressed," Naruto said, obviously having taken leave of his senses. 

Kakashi darted a look at Iruka, sobering up. "I think I like him, _I'll keep him alive._ " Naruto stiffened, he had not known killing students was an option. Sakura and Sasuke both squeezed his hands and he realized what he had really meant with those words. 

The prophecy wasn't about Sasuke, after all. 

Iruka's smile had melted into a frown when he looked at them again. "Detention, two months," he said, stern. "You'll report to me after classes every day for remedial defence and duelling classes." He shared a look with Kakashi. "All three of you." 

Wisely none of them said anything, they just nodded and moved to the door, which Iruka opened for them. 

"Did they just--?" Sakura began, her voice shocked and too high. 

"Yes," Sasuke agreed.

"Oh."

Naruto opened and closed his mouth again, part of him wanted to protest, to say he wanted to play Quidditch and not train for duelling non-stop, but that was the part who had believed the war that was surely coming was someone else's problem. He had seen how their teachers moved and if someone came for him, or for his friends, with that level of skill he wanted to be able to defend them. 

"I'm going to be better than them! I'll be the best, you'll see!!" He proclaimed and both Sakura and Sasuke turned to look at him.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. "Not better than me!"

Before Naruto could say anything Sakura tapped them both in the shoulder and streaked past them. "You both lose to me. Race you to the hall!"

They both took off after her with disgruntled shouts, chasing her all the way to dinner, their teachers and the detention and the looming war forgotten for now.

…

Kakashi looked at the closed door of the classroom after the kids left. They had not been what he was expecting but he could see why Iruka loved them so much.

"That was skillfully done," he said, letting the admiration he felt in his voice. "I don't think they realized they've been tricked into more lessons until they left the room."

Iruka smiled impishly, the arousal which had luckily subsided once their demonstration had finished came back full force. Kakashi bit down on a groan, grateful for the weave of the robes they were forced to wear to teach. It was something he would be repeatedly grateful for if he was going to keep teaching side by side with Iruka. 

"Naruto is easy to trick, I'm afraid," he said, the fondness he had for his student coming through clearly in his voice. "I had hoped for better from both Sasuke and Sakura, but I'm glad we got all three. They tend to get into trouble together."

It was one of the things Kakashi loved about him the most, how much he cared about people. He had even cared about Kakashi when he didn't know much about him except how dangerous and how damaged he was.

"We'll get them ready for the war," Kakashi vowed. As much as he disliked the idea of training children as soldiers, like he had been trained, he hated the idea of those children dying when the war came because they hadn't been given a fighting chance. "And we'll be by their side."

"Yes, we will."

"Now," Kakashi said, lowering his voice to dispel the seriousness that had taken over. "I think we had a bet." He was amused to see Iruka's cheeks flaming in embarrassment, for a moment they had forgotten themselves while duelling and flirted every obviously. If there hadn't been red sparks, Kakashi didn't doubt they would have said something inappropriate before the end of the duel. 

"I don't think we determined the winner," Iruka said, though he lazily threw a locking and silencing spell at the door, a clear indication that he hadn't been unaffected either. "And we're not messing my classroom again."

"We'll just use the winner of the last one," Kakashi said, pulling his mask down. "You're too far away. _Accio Iruka_." He practically flew into Kakashi's waiting arms, crashing them to the ground where Kakashi kissed all his protests away, mouth hard and hungry, swallowing his moans, hands busy finding a way under his robes. "I think I'm going to love teaching, after all."

...


End file.
